Fine adaptation

Rating: Null/10 (1 January 2009)

To really judge this film, as well as 'A Bridge Too far', one needs to read the book either after or (better yet) before seeing the film. Every time this film comes on, I find myself flipping through my battered paperback copy of the book, especially at the point where Private Schultz decides he needs to lose the $2,500 he won at craps. That actually happened, though there is no mention of him having suffered any serious injuries during training.
Probably the most glaring deviation from the book is that the final breakout from Omaha Beach wasn't as dramatic as was portrayed in the film. Those who survived fought their way off that beach inch by bloody inch. It is true that General Cota was very inspirational to his men in the 29th Infantry Division as he tried to move his men off the beach. I was pleased that some of the more minor 'idiosycracies', like Lord Lovat having his personal piper with him, were accurately portrayed, as well as the incident when Lovat's commandos relieved Major Howard's Paratroopers at 'Pegasus Bridge.' That incident was retold fairly accurately, although I'm not so sure about the exchange of words between Pvt. Flanagan and the other Irish soldier, regarding the way Bill Millin played the bagpipes. It did strike me as classic British humor in a time of stress.
By the way, one error on this page that might be cleared up. Pips Priller's Luftwaffe 'buddy' and wingman, the one who complained about 'not being able to get any sleep', was no major. He's Flight Sergeant Heinz Wodarcyck, Priller's regular wingman on the staff flight of Jagdgeschwader (fighter wing) twenty-six. Also, Priller's final official score was 101, not the 130-some-odd mentioned in the movie. He survived the war, so it's entirely possible that some of those kills occurred after D-Day. Wodarcyck was killed in Operation Bodeplatte, a major strike coordinated with the Battle of the Bulge, intended to wipe out the U.S. 9th Air Force, and maybe the British 2nd Air Force, on the ground in Belgium. That was New Year's day 1945.